Vegetable prices shoot up; consumers at receiving end

A delayed monsoon coupled with the lack of storage facilities is being seen as a reason behind rise in the prices of vegetables by many.

“Neither the wholesalers and nor the retailers have good storage facilities to protect vegetables from heat. Nowadays, vegetables get easily rotten. Moreover, weather production these days, leading to increase in the prices of vegetables,” said Kuljit Singh, a farmer and agriculturist from Amritsar.

“After I sell a vegetable to the wholesaler for Rs 10 he adds Rs 2 or more while selling it to the retailer, who in turn, increases Rs 6-7 further when selling it to the consumer,” he added.

Manav Taneja, a vegetable exporter, says, “In May, June and July, export of potatoes is very less. Delay in rainfall, shortage in supply of crops coupled with small retailers increasing the prices adds to price rise.”

“The prices vary from area to area as well. In the walled city localities such as Logarh the price would be less as compared to Lawrence Road,” he added.

“In last two to three weeks, there has been a Rs 20-30 increase in prices of many vegetable. The prices of some have even gone up by Rs 40 per kg. I am selling capsicum and lemon at Rs 80 per kg and cauliflower at Rs 50 per kg. The price of onion and tomato havs also increased by Rs 20 each but there no change in demand,” a woman vegetable vendor said.

“We have to pay for transportation also. At present, the production of vegetables has gone down while the consumption has increased. The demand for cucumber, gourd etc is more while the supply is less as it usually happens during the summer. This is the time when vegetable vendors and shopkeepers get a chance to earn,” Bharat Bhushan, another vegetable seller said.

“When there is price rise dhabha owners too feel helpless. We have to bear the brunt of price rise. We cannot even increase the price of cooked vegetables as it will directly affect our clientele. We have to increase prices in case the vegetable prices do not come down for a longer time and that too by maximum Rs 5-10,” said Kala, a dhabha owner